Generally, a electric oven is an apparatus for heating and cooking food by an electric heater at a tray of within a cavity. The electric oven can perform functions of a grill and an oven by radiant heat of the electric heater or by a convectional hot blast caused by a convection fan. Additionally, in case where a magnetron is further provided, the magnetron irradiates microwave into the cavity to more promptly cook the food.
Generally, the electric oven has a door at a front thereof. The door performs an opening and closing operation up and down by a hinge provided at a lower side of the door. Additionally, a latch provided at an upper end of the door is inserted and latched in a latch insertion hole provided at a front surface of the electric oven. Accordingly, the door can be safely maintained in a closed state. Additionally, when the user opens the door, the latch is unlatched using a predetermined unit to allow the user to open the door. Further, a predetermined door switch is provided to sense the insertion of the latch into the latch insertion hole. In case where it is determined that the latch is inserted into the latch insertion hole, it is determined that the door is closed and the electric oven initiates its operation. In case where it is determined that the latch is not inserted into the latch insertion hole, the electric oven does not initiate its operation even though a start button is pressed.
Alternatively, the related-art electric oven has a drawback as follows.
First, there is a drawback in that when the user opens the door without recognizing that the internal of the cavity reaches a high temperature, he/she can get burned. In order to prevent this, U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,336 entitled “MOTORIZED SELF-CLEANING OVEN LATCH” has been disclosed. Since the U.S. patent has a drawback due to a complicated structure in that an actual embodiment is difficult and a manufacture cost is increased.
Second, in case where the user inserts a long stick into the latch insertion hole for fun, it can be erroneously sensed as if the door is closed. At this time, since the electric oven can be operated even without any manipulation, the user can get burned. Furthermore, there is also a drawback in that the indoor fire can be caused in case where the electric oven performs the above operations in an overheating state.